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Garmisch (in the west) and Partenkirchen (in the east) were separate towns for many centuries, and still maintain quite separate identities.

Partenkirchen originated as the Roman town of Partanum on the trade route from Venice to Augsburg and is first mentioned in the year A.D. 15. Its main street, Ludwigsstrasse, follows the original Roman road.

Garmisch is first mentioned some 800 years later as Germaneskau ("German District"), suggesting that at some point a Teutonic tribe took up settlement in the western end of the valley.

The discovery of America at the turn of the 16th century led to a boom in shipping and a sharp decline in overland trade, which plunged the region into a centuries-long economic depression. The valley floor was swampy and difficult to farm. Bears, wolves and lynxes were a constant threat to livestock. The population suffered from periodic epidemics, including several serious outbreaks of bubonic plague. Adverse fortunes from disease and crop failure occasionally led to a witch hunt. Most notable of these were the trials and executions of 1589-1596, in which 63 people — more than 10 percent of the population at the time — were burned at the stake or garroted.

Werdenfels Castle, where the accused were held, tried and executed, became an object of superstitious terror and was abandoned in the 17th century. It was largely torn down in the 1750s and its stones used to build the baroque Neue Kirche (New Church) on Marienplatz, which was completed in 1752. It replaced the nearby Gothic Alte Kirche (Old Church), parts of which predated Christianity and may originally have been a pagan temple. Used as a storehouse, armory and haybarn for many years, it has since been re-consecrated. Some of its medieval frescoes are still visible.

Garmisch and Partenkirchen remained separate until their respective mayors were forced by Adolf Hitler to combine the two market towns in 1935 in anticipation of the 1936 Winter Olympic games. Today, the united town is casually (but incorrectly) referred to as Garmisch, much to the dismay of Partenkirchen's residents. Most visitors will notice the slightly more modern feel of Garmisch while the fresco-filled, cobblestoned streets of Partenkirchen offer a glimpse into times past. Early mornings and late afternoons in pleasant weather often find local traffic stopped while the dairy cows are herded to and from the nearby mountain meadows.

South of Partenkirchen is the Partnach Gorge,[3] where the Partnach river surges spectacularly through a narrow, mile-long gap between high limestone cliffs. The Zugspitze (local name "Zugspitz") is south of Garmisch near the village of Grainau. The highest mountain in Germany, it actually straddles the border with Austria. Also overlooking Garmisch-Partenkirchen is Germany's fourth-highest mountain, the Leutasch Dreitorspitze ("Three-Gate Peak", a name derived from its triple summit).